We believe in balancing new ideas with respect for our rich heritage. Jewish tradition challenges us to be bold in facing new challenges while honoring our past, just as our ancestors did. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."

“Wild Honey” 
Explanation of our artwork and process:

Jewish life is a constant interplay between past and present. We base modern halacha (Jewish law) on former rabbinic decisions, create new traditions to make ancient rituals more meaningful, and adapt Jewish life to meet our contemporary needs. At The Jewish Education Project, we innovate, we move forward, we learn, but that learning is always built on a foundation of Jewish tradition and a deep history of Jewish peoplehood. That sentiment captures the agency’s fourth value, which is represented in this work. Honey symbolizes the past, evoking the land of milk and honey, the sweetness of Torah, the ways in which tradition sticks in our shared memory. Its visual mirror is the rose. In the Zohar, the nation of Israel is described as a precious rose. The flower does not just capture our peoplehood, but also the changes to our tradition. It sends forth new shoots, drops old leaves, and persistently grows towards its own imagined future. The dripping honey and rose stem twine together and apart, demonstrating the ways in which the past, the present, and the future are deeply entangled and rhizomatic, without beginning or end. To the left, a bee hovers, illustrating the link between the two: the Jewish learner. The system relies on external activation. The flower’s pollen cannot become honey without the bee transforming it, just as change cannot be meaningful without an understanding of the past and a foundation on mesora. The background is filled with a honeycomb texture, creating a liminal and idealized space where this learning can happen freely while also offering a potentiality to the bee’s future. Which path will the bee take next? What will the honey touch? Where will the new flowers grow?